As more Indians have started investing for long-term financial goals, their pattern of investment is worth noting. A gradual shift towards mutual funds by the increasingly young salaried professionals is remarkable with more Indian investors investing via fund houses than before, at least that's what BankBazaar survey indicates.
Around 57 percent of respondents claimed they invest in mutual funds against 54 percent who invest in fixed deposits (FDs).
There are certain challenges, nevertheless, with savings and investments remaining the same or seen a fall for close to 80 percent of the respondents.
The FDs were also a preferred choice by the older age cohorts, with 62 percent of salaried professionals in 35-45 age bracket holding fixed deposits compared with 54 percent in 28-34 and 47 percent in 22-27 age group.
These results came to light in a BankBazaaar study that surveyed 1,675 working professionals in the age group of 22 to 45.
At the same time, forty six percent of investors have bought insurance products, 45 percent of them have invested in stock market, 33 percent have bought gold & other commodities, 32 percent have invested in cryptocurrencies while a small fraction of them i.e., 1 percent have not invested at all.
Retirement saving
As far as retirement is concerned, a vast majority (60 percent of respondents) said they have a retirement corpus. The data shows serious retirement saving starts in late 20s to early 30s with 55 percent women in the 22-27 age group looking at a corpus of ₹one crore or more.
Fairer sex
Women, the survey shows, are more inclined towards saving for their future. More women hold mutual fund investments compared with men – almost 60 percent women have SIPs running compared to 55 percent men, shows the BankBazaar survey.
About 54 percent women have FDs compared with 53 percent men. The percentage of men, however, investing directly in stocks is much higher than women. Only about 41 percent women have direct stocks compared to about 48 percent men.
Data also indicates a higher insurance penetration. Only three percent of respondents have no health or life insurance. Also, nearly 43 percent have both health and life insurance and 39 percent have life insurance without a health cover.
